This is apparently a growing thing, INTERVAL walking. Oy. We are not particular fans at this point, nothing exciting or earth shattering at this point (other than the concerns we hi light below) but we will look into it more.
What you need to see, and be aware of, is that this is what happens when you wear a shoe that has too soft a rear foot. At heel strike, instead of progressing forward into the mid and forefoot, the rear foot of the shoe deforms and forces you into more HEEL rocker, sustained heel rocker. If you stay in heel rocker too long, you won’t progress forward into ANKLE rocker (ankle dorsiflexion). This often causes knee hyperextension. If you have a good trained eye, you will see both of these things, prolonged heel rocker and never any ankle rocker/ankle dorsiflexion. IT is like the ankle in this video is frozen at 90 degrees the entire time, train your eye to see this absense of ankle rocker. This will cause premature heel rise and premature posterior compartment contraction which can cause premature forefoot loading. This is what happens when the heel of the shoe is too soft. A perfect example of “more cushion” is not always better. IT can be a liability as well. Remember the angry revolution over the MBT shoe and its mushy rear foot?. Same principle, same risks and concerns. Welcome to round two of the same old problems ????? Maybe. you decide. To be clear, this is a comment on the shoes being used, the technique is , well, perhaps interesting. That is all we are willing to comment on at this point until we look into it more. Look at the heel and ankle mechanics during the slow mo clips.
Sorry Ben Greenfield. We are not impressed, as of yet. We like your podcast Ben, you are doing us all a great service, but this one is promoting some potential problems that people need to know about.
Start with our “Shuffle Walk”. Google search it under the Gait Guys. That is a good start.

- Dr. Allen